City Council Begins Adoption of $3.1 Billion Budget Today

Council members begin bargaining in earnest over the FY 2012-13 budget today.

Callie Hernandez for KUT News

The Austin City Council meets this morning to hash out the city’s budget for the next fiscal year. And with competing needs and limited dollars, council members may need three days to agree on the spending.

The city has an overall budget of $3.1 billion – that includes all city services and programs, including Austin Energy and Austin Water. But when it comes to budget adoption, most attention focuses on the general fund – the pot of money that pays for basic city services such as police, fire and EMS, parks, libraries and more. That amount has risen to $742.5 million this year.

General fund spending will likely consume much of council’s attention – council member Kathie Tovo tells KUT News she’s looking closely at funding for youth programs and recreation centers. But the property tax rate that pays for many city services may be on the table too.

City Manager Marc Ott’s budget – the starting point for today’s budget negotiations – contains a 2.2 cent property tax increase. That amount is higher than the 1.8 cent increase the city originally floated in April, when it started drafting the budget. A difference between the county tax assessor’s springtime estimate of the tax rolls, and the certified tax roll she delivered in July is credited for the discrepancy.

Today’s meeting begins at 9 a.m. at City Hall. Council has two additional meetings scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday if it can’t come to consensus today and approve the budget document.

Related Content

The city is proposing a 1.8 cent increase in property taxes. Thats just a hair under the maximum increase allowed 1.85 cents without a special tax election. Thats one of the findings in the City of Austins preliminary, proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2013, presented to the City Council this morning. Going off current median home values approximately $182,000, but due to change once the county sets new property valuations thats a $33 annual increase.

A 2.2 cent property tax increase and additional raises to utility rates and city fees means the median Austin homeowner will paying an additional $18 each month in city fees and taxes, as laid out in City Manager Marc Otts proposed city budget for Fiscal Year 2013. The 2.2 cent property tax increase is higher than the 1.8 cent increase the city originally forecast in April , when it began work on the city budget. According to the City Budget Officer, Ed Van Eenoo, the reason for the boost is a half-billion dollar difference between the Travis County Tax Assessors April estimate of the tax rolls, and the certified tax roll delivered in July. The citys current tax rate is 48.11 cents for every $100 of property value . But without the increase the city budget would see a $17.8 million shortfall as currently written.